Also known as artificial intelligence, or emotional intelligence or emotion AI, affective computing refers to the study and development of devices and systems that can recognize, process, interpret and stimulate human affects. To put it in a simple way, affective computing devices and systems can recognize the emotional state of the user and respond accordingly. Affective computing is an interdisciplinary field that deals with computer science, psychology, cognitive science, and physiology.
It is concerned with collecting data from facial expressions, posture, speech, body language, gestures, heart rate, body temperature, pupil dilation, the force or rhythm of keystrokes, etc., to recognize human emotions. Accordingly, today, we have software for speech recognition, gesture recognition, facial feature extraction, and analytics software. The aim is to develop highly intelligent systems that can respond to human emotions and thus, ensure better human-machine interactions.
The global affective computing market was valued at USD 16.17 billion in 2017 and is projected to reach a value of USD 88.69 billion by 2023. The market will exhibit a CAGR of 32.8% during this period. The emergence of affective computing has brought about radical changes in many industries. It has the potential to stimulate growth in various industries and sectors, and this is increasing the demand for affective computing.
Moreover, affective computing can help ensure personalization, such as adjusting light or the room temperature by judging the mood of a person. Other factors that will exert a positive impact on the affective computing market are, increasing awareness about affective computing in various industries, rising investments in affective computing, and the growing adoption of digital technologies.
The healthcare sector is likely to benefit immensely from affective computing technologies, as the healthcare industry is continuously on the lookout for technologies that can simplify and improve patient care. Physiological healthcare and medicine analysis have already opened the door for affective computing.
The US, being the most technologically advanced region, is expected to play an important role in the global affective computing market. Research institutes and organizations in the region are conducting various projects related to affective computing. This will further boost the affective computing market in the US and North America. The North American market will also witness high growth due to the presence of major global players in the region and the investment programs undertaken by them.
The major players operating in the global affective computing market are, Google LLC (U.S), IBM Corporation (U.S), Microsoft Corporation (U.S), Qualcomm Inc. (U.S), Saffron Technologies Inc. (U.S), Affectiva (U.S), Numenta (U.S), Elliptic Labs A/S (Norway), Eyesight Technologies Ltd. (Israel), Pyreos Limited (Scotland), Emotional Recognition(U.K), Softkinetic Systems (Belgium), Cognitec Systems GmbH (Germany), and SightCorp (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), among others.
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